Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
”And you came here why exactly?” Michael sat across from her, behind his test and tapped his fingers on the dark wood. He was visibly agitated and didn’t like having her here. As expected.
”After I got cleared from the psychologist, I thought it’d be necessary to formally apologize for my behavior”, Nora-Ceph lied with a smile. ”I wasn’t at my best behavior when we saw each other last time. So I wanted to make it up to you.”
”By coming here? You know I don’t appreciate unannounced visitors. If people find out …”
”Find out what? That a government official has come to hire your construction company for an important job?”
Michael was grinding his teeth and conflicting emotions moved his face. He stood up and turned around, facing the window that had been behind him.
”After all this time, all our discussions, you finally want to use your connections to benefit me? Why the change of mind? You always refused to do me this kind of favor.”
”As I said, I wanted to properly apologize.” Nora-Ceph stood up too and made a few steps towards Michael. She forced herself to wrap her arms around him and hug him from behind. She pushed herself up to stand on her toes, so that her mouth was next to his ear. ”I don’t want you to be mad at me”, she whispered. @suesa
His tension changed from cautious to sexual, as he grabbed her hand that was positioned on his stomach and pressed it softly.
”I’d say apology accepted”, he whispered back, let go of her hand and turned around. The look in his eyes made Nora-Ceph nauseous but she forced a smile. ”While you’re here”, Michael added, ”I should show you my latest publicity campaign. You will love it, we talked about it before.”
”Oh?” Nora-Ceph tried to reactivate the memories, but they were loaded with sex on which she didn’t want to focus. She frowned. ”Yes, show me please.” For now, she didn’t deem the exact memory that important.
It had been a week now since she had overtaken this body, and not everything had been as smooth as promised. Some memories needed a greater trigger than others, some weren’t as precise as she wished. Specific information wasn’t always easy to acquire. But she had been able to adapt as far as necessary to continue with her mission.
And this involved making up with Michael - and using his position as a businessman. He had power, of that she was sure. Even if they didn’t make him a host, he could be useful - if Nora-Ceph was able to manipulate him. But she didn’t expect that to be an issue. Not with the history he had with Nora, her host.
”Look at that”, Michael said and tapped a screen that had been integrated into the wall. A picture appeared. A picture of …
”Is that a Cephi baby?” Nora-Ceph’s heart rate increased as she stared at the picture of a tiny, miserable looking Ceph child. It seemed … abused. Beaten. And its colors were dull and scared.
”Yes it is! We had to choose a very small one so people would recognize that it’s not an adult. It’s so hard to tell with these creatures …”
Nora-Ceph was able to pull her eyes away from the abused child and read the text that accompanied the picture.
”Create a safe home for them?” She asked, slightly confused. Compassion for Cephs had been the last thing she had expected to find in Michael’s office.
”What do you think? Is it a good slogan? Or not emotional enough? Too emotional? We don’t want them to start thinking Cephis should actually have rights. It’s just to get their votes to open up the outer part of the colony for land development. No Cephi will ever live there, of course, but they won’t let us build there for humans.”
”W … What?”
”You know, the environment freaks. They protested against expanding the colony to keep the original nature intact. Can you imagine? Nature! On a dead moon! Ridiculous. But if we say we want to build homes for Cephis? They will surely be on board with that, these freaks love the little, slimy bastards.”
Michael shook his head in disgust and Nora-Ceph clenched her fists. She had been right, there was no compassion in Michael for her kind. For a brief moment, she wondered how he would react if he knew what she was, what she had done to the real Nora. The woman he desired so much. She couldn’t suppress a tiny, evil smirk.
Michael noticed.
”You like my idea?” He beamed with pride.
”Sure. Sounds … effective”, Nora-Ceph said.
”It will be, it will be! But enough of business, it’s almost lunchtime. My personal cook should arrive any moment, I took the freedom to order two meals when I heard that you were outside my office. I hope you’ll stay to eat with me?”
Nora-Ceph nodded and followed Michael back to his desk. Just as they sat down, the door opened and a young man wheeled in a cart. The food. It smelled … weird.
The man placed plates in front of Michael and Nora-Ceph, then proceeded to serve the food. It looked like some kind of weird, light meat. He didn’t take long, took a quick bow and left without a word.
”What is this?” Nora-Ceph asked and poked the squishy substance. It was drenched in a sauce that smelled like … lemons.
”Oh, a delicacy! Come on, try it!”
”I’d like to know what it is first …”
”Don’t you trust me?” He winked. Nora-Ceph wanted to answer with a no but suppressed the urge. Instead, she put a tiny bite in her mouth. The meat felt weird in her mouth. Wrong.
”It wasn’t easy to get this”, Michael said. ”I had to call in some favors. But I just love the taste!” Nora-Ceph swallowed. She didn’t like the taste.
”So? Are you going to tell me what this great delicacy is?”
”It’s cooked Cephi!”
Silence.
Nora-Ceph stared at Michael, frozen in shock.
He couldn’t be serious.
He apparently was.
She gagged, leaned over to the side and threw up.
”HEY! Careful! That carpet was expensive! What the fuck, Nora?” He jumped up and walked around the desk, towards her. He didn’t seem too sure if he wanted to help her or throw her out. But Nora-Ceph didn’t give him time to think it through. Instead, she reached into her pocket, pulled out a tiny syringe and plunged it into his leg the moment he was close enough.
”What the …” Michael blacked out. Nora-Ceph reached for the phone on his desk and dialed a number she had spent a lot of time remembering.
”Yes, hello, it’s Nora-Ceph, formerly a part of Quelz. I need a clean-up and extraction team at the following address …”
She had planned to use Michael without replacing his brain with a Ceph, but that option had evaporated into nothingness.
At least now, she wouldn’t be forced to sleep with him.
That b;tch...
Lol. He totally had it coming! :P
Finally, some action . Why do i feel you are making the humans of future time Lunar 3 act overly cruel. They even eat cephs :/
I have grown so attached i felt the bile coming up my throat reading that. Bad humans, bad humans
mind-blowing, captivating, i almost dropped my phone when i read the part where Nora pulled out a tiny syringe and plunged it into Micheal's leg. I can't wait for next episode.
This comment is not spam.
EDIT: Just finished reading through this whole series. I'm really enjoying it!
I was expecting him to know somehow what had happened... the reality was even more of a twist than I had imagined. I said it in chat and I'll say it again... that's fucked up.
Looking forward to the next installment! :)
This comment is.
You both ruined everything-- I was gonna change it to a meaningful comment later after I read the story, but @suesa actually upvoted it and now you've gone and built on its context :(
We're evil like that
flagged
Liar!
It was white flag :)
Good to know that I was the chef of this story.
You personally served the Calamari!
I actually ate them only once. I thought I didn't like them. But when I tried them I apparently do.
6 parts in a row...
My February resolution: eat cephis once a week, just in case...
Resolution No2: to pull out the money I put on Orcas to become the Master, hm, race
Disappointments in hoomans: after X thousands of year and conquered space people still haven't developed emotionally stability (99% it would be like that)
They still care what do the neighbors think (99%...)
They keep reproducing like a weed (100%)
And destroy the planet(s), Moon(s) for all other species (100%)
After rethinking, I'm supporter of Cephies, they couldn't make it worse on planetary/ galactic level
SEE! That's my standpoint too. Cephis ftw.
And wow, you read all 6 in a row? I am impressed and flattered!
Not too much to do in Lille at Saturday night :D
And I know what is the satisfaction of an author.
When you write something from the hearth and people actually read it and think about it.
Damn! She sounds unstoppable while pissed. More... :)
I write fiction stories too. There's more to learn from your fiction stories, I will also follow suit by learning from your fictional prowess, hopefully i will be appreciated
Its pulsating stuff How Nora is actually feeling more of a human...Your fiction is quite gripping
Hi @suesa how are you? Thanks for the nice post. It's good to read some fiction sometimes. I hope your doing fine with your current "mentor" thing project. Congratulations in advance! :)
I already passed this one, too. I liked it a little.
This comment is
Are you seriously copying other people's comments..?
Good to know that l was the chef of this story
Nice post, saludos desde Venezuela.
See, the moment you post the same thing under several posts, it becomes spam.
Sorry, very little is written in English.
Well then don't comment on stuff you don't understand ...
Ok, por eso es que escribo desde Venezuela, medio entiendo lo que escriben y lo que me cautivó fue la imagen, sorry
Ok, I understand that you are discriminating against us because if I comment in Spanish, it does not ignore it, does it mean that the effort one makes to translate your post is worth what one does instead?
I am not discriminating against you, I flag any kind of spam on my posts. And the image you were so captivated by? It's a stock photo and not even really part of the post! You basically keep insulting me.
Don't worry. I'll talk to her 🙂 (I'm her boyfriend). She only speaks Spanish and understands very little English.
please upvote my story sir ,https://steemit.com/steemitultimatechallenge/@bardostyle07/the-success-story-of-my-trip about my dream @suesa
awesome & exhilarated!
congenial & surreal!